The plan worked: Shoppers loaded up on wooden tokens last week to shop for fresh fruits and veggies.

The promotion was to encourage people who receive food funds through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to use their EBT cards at any of the local farmers markets.

Word got out and just about wiped out the budget for free tokens this year.

Organizer Richard Roth said it”s really good people are learning that EBT cards can be used at local markets. This is the first year they can be used at all markets in the county.

Last week, if a person swiped as little as $1 in EBT, they could receive an additional $10 in tokens.

But the original plan was to hold another event with free tokens.

The budget for the promotions this year was $10,000 and more than $9,000 in produce was purchased the week of July 10-14, the largest being at the Thursday night farmers market in Chico.

Word spread quickly, and in retrospect, Roth said he would have done things differently so lines to get tokens at some markets were not so long. But he and others in the group had no idea how the promotion would play out.

Another $6,000 in grant funding will be available next year. Another event scheduled for the fall will not take place.

Word is spreading slowly that tokens can be purchased through EBT at all local markets, and the event did a lot to bolster that knowledge.

Government spending on local food has one of the highest economic multiplier impacts on the local economy, he said. In Butte County there are millions of dollars that could be circulated locally if everyone eligible for food programs signed up.

“I know that at least two markets — Gridley and Oroville Hospital” — had no use of EBT cards before the event.

He”s hoping that more people will continue to use their food cards for local produce, because prior to placement of the card-reading machines at markets, people who rely on low-income food programs were shut out.

Organizers included Cultivating Community, a project supported by California Department of Food and Agriculture through a specialty crop grant, http://cultivatingcommunitynv.org/farmers-markets. You can find the list of local market locations and times at the website.

The group also has programs for food preparation workshops, which will focus on the use of healthful, locally-available foods.

Staff writer Heather Hacking can be reached at 896-7758, hhacking@chicoer.com, and followed on Twitter @HeatherHacking.